Saturday, June 15, 2013

My Best Video Yet, Seriously.

I'm slowly learning to trim the fat from these "Man Goes Up A Mountain" videos.

It's harder than it sounds. While you enjoy the video and the obnoxious background music, I will also post below the email I sent to Daniel about my run when I was hideously drunk. He's a good friend and he puts up with shit like that.

Also, I sent some Lavish Stoke podcast questions around to more friends and to some elite runners that I don't know at all...I have yet to hear back on any of the emails, but...hope abounds! You can check out the critically-acclaimed Lavish Stoke 2 on the sidebar of my blog. It's downloadable. I don't make no money from this. It just gives me something to do when I take long bus trips in Chile. Which I do almost every weekend.

If you want to contribute, record yourself answering the following questions:

1.) Desert island question: If you could only run one route for the rest of your life, what route would it be and why (please keep it within a day's outing. no answers like "Appalachian Trail" or something)

2.) If you were actually a pair of running shoes, what shoes would you be and why? You don't have to name brands (unless you want to), but would you have a stiff, lugged sole? Or perhaps a soft, sock-like interior?

3.) What is the most disgusting food you have ever consumed during a run/race? What is the most delicious?

4.) If you had to get tattoo of another runner's face tattoo'd on your body, who would it be and why?

5.) What pizza (and toppings) best represents your style of running?

Email chain with Dan:

yes, cool article also. no, the idea is we'll do the race on saturday to avoid conflicting directly with K0's race on sunday. i'm not sure how much a race it is or isn't, hahahah, but i swear i'm bringing prizes with me and i swear i'm asking if i can sleep on your futon friday and saturday night! i'm sorry to continue to infringe, but with emma gone...i'm homeless in santiago!

today was one of the most enjoyable days i've ever had in the mountains. i'm about to post an epic-stoke video to youtube this evening (with absolutely over-the-top music) ...but on a deep level, it was one of those days where you really feel yourself...like in the world. as a human. and happy. and just. yeah. it was so excellent.

and i'm really really drunk right now so i'm going to type the rest of the story to you, just because i have nothing else to do and it seems like fun.

i saw the weather forecast was going to be dodgy for today. rain in talca. rain in the pre-cordillera and temps that suggested snow anywhere above vilches alto. but, i love days like that because the mountains always look so good, so yeah...plus, it was a burn out week for me. i felt low running-wise. work-wise. etc. i just thought "you know, what's the worst that could happen? you always come back from the mountains happier than when you left, so just go and fuck the forecast."

so i went.

i was all weird and pissy on the bus. i didn't want anyone to sit by me. i hated whatever music i picked on my mp3 player. the weather got so so so much colder as we went up to the mountains and i was just like "fuuuuuck this." i arrive and maria's not there. she took the weekend off. i had to go to the other lady's place. which is fine. and then...she makes me some coffee. and it has so much sugar in it. and i'm changing clothes in her tiny bathroom. and the coffee is really hot. and my stomach loves it. and its too sweet for me. but i really like it. and it isn't making me feel like i have to take a shit. its just making my whole body warm. and she's got a lazy eye. and we're talking about snow. and how there are cycles of snow. there used to be a lot in vilches alto. the ozone layer. the climate change. the world. the cycles. its coming back though, you know? the snow will come back. the coffee seems to be unable to cool down, but i seem unable to stop drinking it. and i'm all dressed in my running stuff and she's hidden away my backpack. promised to guard it for me until i come back. be careful, she says! and i say of course of course!

it's 9:45am. I woke up with nightmares at 5am.

so, i start the long slow jog up the "official trail" route. that's the one we ran down the first time. the wide, jeep road. and i'm climbing great. i mean, i'm not "killing it." but i don't want to. it just isn't hard to run up the trail. my pack is pretty heavy. i have some water. both cameras. some extra stuff just for training weight...the tripod. a pack of zucogo. but it doesn't feel too heavy. i'm not breathing too hard.

i see javiera, one of the conaf guards, in a conaf truck "hey pato! have a good run!" "thank, javi! cool sunglasses!"

I get to the administration building in 15 minutes, which is quick for that route. don fernando is there. we talk only for two minutes. it's good to see each other. we give a quick hug. "patricio did you buy the season pass yet?" "no don fernando, i didn't have time still! i'm working so much!" "well, i don't have change for your 10 lucas so you better just get going! hahaha!" "thanks, don fernando! i'll see you later!"

and i take off. my legs feel even better. i mean. this is just not even a workout day. after a lot of tough weeks i was just looking for an "escape run" sort of thing. relax. slog. be in the mountains. no goals.

i decide on whim to try to find the north summit of Peine. when you and i went up that cerro, we went up the standard southern route and then crossed beneath the southern summit. Peine actually has 2 legit summits. and the northern one, supposedly, is the "true" summit being that it's literally a few meters higher than the one we crossed beneath on our way down to the laguna.

so i run the standard trail until it forks and starts the climb up to the "enladrillado/laguna" intersection ridge (we ran by it, but low. where it was grassy and i said i didn't drink the water because of horseback groups). i begin the trail up and of course its very steep, switch-backed and tech. not as rocky or stepped as the route we did up peine, but similar. and i keep running. it just doesn't feel that bad. i mean, i'm breathing and my pack feels heavy. but...its ok.

so i run up until i get out of the forest. remember how the trail we did sort of "breaks open" and then there's no more trees? just rock and stuff? this trail does the same but even more dramatically.

without even thinking, i leave the trail and start hiking/climbing straight towards a ridgeline i don't really know, but it looks like it goes towards Peine north. after some good, heavy hiking and about 7 or 8 legit climbing moves, i'm on a mellow snowy ridge, running again. i can see Descabezado to my left and the entire Maule valley to my right. the mountains to the north are literally glittering, because as the storm has moved in, where i'm at has clouded over heavily, but the north is still clear and you can see the sun hitting the snow on the peaks east of Curicó. it's amazing. the snow is perfect. it had clearly thawed, melted, frozen and then thawed just enough for today that i could run on it without slipping AND without punching through to my thigh. i could just run across it without worries.

so i continue on this ridge until it connects with the ridge that leads directly to the peine north summit. at this point, i'm walking (carefully) along a narrow ridge made of rocks that are sort of like giant chunks of sidewalk stacked randomly on top of each other. one side is more of this sharp, knifey rock and the other side is a nearly sheer drop to laguna del alto. and there's no wind. i just have to step carefully. it's not dangerous. it just feels so good. i can see the summit. i can the valley. i can see the laguna. there's a bit of talus hiking. a bit of down climbing. it doesn't matter. i'm just putting my hands and feet on rock. on snow. looking around. the wind has picked up. i don't really feel it. the windbreaker i brought is just enough. the cheap cotton mittens i have are just enough. i don't feel thirsty. i'm not hungry. i brought a granola bar. it was just enough. i'm just moving steadily along this ridge with my eyes locked on the completely benign and gentile summit of peine north.

and then i'm there.

and i'm taking some pictures. i shoot a long video talking to my dad. it will be his father's day "card." i miss him a lot. i can still see the sun to the north. i can see everything. the andes. the valley. the laguna. the volcano i climbed with Quim last year. the trail you and i ran together a few months ago when it was hot. i can see basically every inch of every bit of cordillera i have explored since i moved to chile. and i don't yell. or cry. or jump up and down. it just feels very right and i feel only like i'm alive and i have no questions about anything. i'm just looking at the world and it seems to be looking back at me.

which is funny, because just as i'm freezing my ass off and ready to get the hell down, i see a group of people on the southern summit! daniel, i have never known anyone other than myself and quim who have actually bothered to scramble the southern summit of peine. as i told you when we ran together that day, there is no point. the view is not better. the summit is not prominent. it is a vague pile of talus and is utterly boring.

however, on this weird day, i see a group of 4 or 5 people all on the summit. waving to me! i wave back and i think we both took pictures of each other. i have no idea how we'll ever communicate, but...it was a coincidence that only added a special touch to an already surreal and magical day.

the descent? i glissaded mostly for the first third. then some rocky, technical jogging, finished with the same bit of trail you and i finished with. i ate a giant sandwich and drank a giant beer. i got on the bus and i was so tired, drunk, feeling so odd and then immediately this song came on my mp3 player randomly after i turned it on:

and i lost it. i mean. i don't know what to say. i started weeping. on the bus. i put on my sunglasses and pulled my hat and hood down and just sat there. crying so hard. and the bus was really loud and there was only one guy in the seat ahead and to the left of me. he was looking out the window. he didn't notice. but there i was. thinking of my life. the mountains. my dad. the world. it was as if every moment and experience of the past year had suddenly decided to re-emerge and intersect at that instant, in my mind and in my life.

powerful shit, to say the least.

good thing i took up jogging as a hobby. otherwise what the fuck would i be doing right now?

HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY, YOU GUYS! SEE YOU NEXT WEEKEND!

-pat.

Also, who titles their blog post "My Best Video Yet, Seriously" ...ahahahaha, I'm such a cocksucker.

Also, if you actually read that whole email: here's the video i made for my dad! hahaha, i love that guy so much!